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The Trace of Translators' Ideology

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The Trace of Translators' Ideology 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies – Vol 19 (1): 51 – 64 The trace of translators’ ideology: A case study of English translations of the Qur’an AMENEH MOHAGHEGH Faculty of Foreign Languages University of Isfahan, Iran [email protected] HOSSEIN PIRNAJMUDDIN Faculty of Foreign Languages University of Isfahan, Iran ABSTRACT The present article attempts to explore the effect of translator's ideology on the translated text by focusing on the English translations of two Qura'nic verses from surah Al-Taubah (Repentance) and surah Al-Anfal (The Spoils of War) that are most often referred to with the purpose of imaging Islam as the religion of violence and intolerance. Two parts of the article are devoted to definitions of ideology and the relationship between ideology and translation. The last part takes on board the works of four translators with different religions and ideologies who lived in different time periods and are as follows: one Iranian Muslim translator (Tahereh Saffarzade); one English Muslim translator (Mohammad M. Pickthall) and two English Christian translators (Arthur J. Arberry and George Sale). It is argued that Saffarzadeh as a Muslim and the most recent translator among the ones discussed seems to have been more aware of debates on these verses in comparison with others and as a result more careful in rendering them while Sale's translation is the most ideologically-biased one. The result is indicative of the fact that not only the translators’ attitude towards Islam but also the social context around them can subtly display itself in the renderings. Keywords: Ideology; translation; context; Islam; Qur’an INTRODUCTION The Qur’an is the central religious text of Islam and, for Muslims, the book of divine guidance and direction. Its significance stems from the idea that it is the Word of God, revealed to the prophet Mohammad and therefore considered inimitable, as God states in the surah Al-Isra (The Night Journey), verse 88. Moreover, no translation of Qur’an is like the original Arabic text because any attempt at translating the Qur’an is a form of exegesis or is based on an understanding of the text and consequently projects a certain point of view (Mustapha, 1998). In fact for interpretation of the Qur’an every group look at its verses from their own point of view and stick to reasons which others do not believe (Mollanazar & Mohaqeq 2005). As Alvarez and Vidal (1996, p. 5) maintain, "translation creates an image of the original, because translator is under the pressure of a series of constraints (which Lefevere denotes as ideological, poetical and economic), typical of the culture to which s/he belongs". Hence, translation takes place not only between languages but also between cultures, and the information needed by the translator therefore always goes beyond the linguistic. In other words, the translator has an important responsibility as the one who has the power to construct the images of a literature and a culture (Salvador 2000). Arguably, one of the most misrepresented cultures of the world throughout history has been the Islamic culture with the Qur’an at its heart. The most common charge brought against Islam by many writers and mainstream media is that Islam is intolerant to other 51 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies – Vol 19 (1): 51 – 64 religions and cultures and following September 11, this propaganda against Muslims has been on the increase. By using a portion of the Qur’an as a source and taking some of the verses out of context incorrect presuppositions are made about Islam and Muslims. Because of the significance of these verses in the context of post-9/11 vilification of Islam, two of them were selected and examined with the aim of discovering differences between their translations by translators of different ideological background and contexts. The verses discussed as case study are from surah Al-Taubah (Repentance), verse 5 and surah Al-Anfal (The Spoils of War), verse 67. Surah Al-Taubah contains verses about fighting (jihad), treating pagans (mushrikeen), hypocrites (munafiqin), and people of the Book and that’s why it is used as a source by enemies of Islam to represent it as religion of violence. For example the fifth verse under the focus of this study is the declaration of the abrogation of the treaties with treacherous pagans which is often taken out of context to attack Islam while the command of war is just against those who do not observe the treaties sincerely. Surah Al-Anfal also as its title suggests is about war and it contains verses concerning the loot and treating captives. This surah was revealed after battle of Badr when Muslims could not reach a consensus about the loot gained in the battle and verse 67 deals specifically with the matter of taking captives in the war (Salehi 2005). Since this research is going to see the effect of ideology on translation, first it surveys definitions of ideology proposed by different scholars and the relationship between ideology and translation. To have a better grasp of the impact of ideology on the translation of the Qur’an, the selected translators are both Muslims and non-Muslims (Christians) from two different cultural and social backgrounds (the East and the West) and who lived in different time periods. Definitely the Eastern Muslims who also live in the recent years are under more pressure and have witnessed much propaganda against Islam in comparison with their western counterparts living before the formation of Islamic extremist groups like Taliban. Hence, the translators chosen are as follows: Tahereh Saffarzade, an Iranian Muslim (1936-2008) who received her BA in English language and literature in 1960. In 1961 she was employed in the translation section of the Oil Operation Companies as the editor for scientific booklets, but after a few years, because of giving a lecture to the children of laborers in a summer camp, she was compelled to quit the job in Pahlavi regime. She viewed this as leisure time and as an opportunity, and therefore decided to continue her studies abroad. First she went to Britain and then to The United States. Upon acceptance as a member of International Writing Program at Iowa University, she enrolled for the M.F.A, which is essentially designed to enable writers, poets, painters, etc, to teach their respective fields of art, both in practical workshops and theoretical courses, at university level. For her post-graduation degree she studied major contemporary world literature with a special focus on practical literary criticism and translation workshops, which was a new course. On returning home to Iran, she took up work at the translation workshop of the Foreign Languages Department of what was then the National University. After seven years of teaching she was dismissed because of her firm opposition to the regime of the Shah. Afterwards she devoted her second forced period of leisure to the study of the Qur'an and its commentaries both in the Persian and English languages. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, she again began teaching and devoted her life on a fulltime basis for completing translation of the Holy Qur'an into English, which she had started long before. At the Dhaka International Poetry Festival in Bangladesh in 1987, because of her creative contribution to the field of teaching translation, she was elected as one of the five founders of the Asian Committee of Translation. In March 2006 the Afro-Asian Writers' Organization elected her as an exemplary personality. The declaration reads in this regard: "Since Tahereh Saffarzadeh, the distinguished Iranian 52 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies – Vol 19 (1): 51 – 64 poetess and writer, is an excellent example for Muslim women, and in view of her political background as a freedom-seeker during the days of Pahlavi tyranny, coupled with her profound knowledge, this year she has been elected by the Afro-Asian Writers' Organization." (http://english.irib.ir/). The second Muslim translator is Mohammad Marmaduke Pickthall (1875-1936), an English Muslim convert who was a writer and translator. Throughout his life for two years he wandered about Palestine and Syria acquiring a thorough knowledge of Arabic and of the religions and customs of the country. In 1907 he revisited the East and travelled in Egypt for several months. Edward Said in his Orientalism puts Pickthall with Pierre Loti and others who through their exotic fiction, offered European readers abstractions ‘converting instances of a civilisation into ideal bearers of its values, ideas, and positions which in turn the Orientalists had found in the “Orient” and transferred into common cultural currency’ (Said 1979, p. 252, quoted in Shaheen 2004). In 1913 Pickthall spent a few months in Turkey and while impressed by the Ottoman empire, he became so disquieted by the virulent anti-Turkish and anti-Islamic feeling manifested in Europe during the First World War that he began to reassess his religious views which until then had been devoutly Anglican. In 1917 he announced his conversion to Islam and for the rest of his life was a prominent member of the British Muslim community for which he served as acting imam at the London mosque and as editor of the journal Islamic Review (Shaheen 2004). The other two English Christian translators are Arthur John Arberry (1905-1969) and George Sale (in or after 1696-1736). Arberry was an Orientalist born in Portsmouth. As an undergraduate he coincided at Pombroke with the great Islamic scholar E.G. Browne, and it was Browne’s friend Ellis Minns, who suggested that Arberry should apply for the newly established Browne studentship in Arabic and Persian.
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